Balls Out Fell Running - Christmas eve at 7pm in the dark, sleet and snow we set off on a cross country run through the woods and over the hills of Wiltshire. Learned some important lessons, mainly, use a compass. Most of the route followed tracks but we had to cross a large and clear area and try to hit the over side - maybe 350 meters - to continue on the right path. Boy were we thrown out - with the sleet in our eyes and quite heavy fog we couldn't see a thing.
Still maxing out on the Raw Food. Pretty amazing the amount of energy, mental clarity and endurance I'm getting from this stuff - that was an hour and a half of running last night on sometimes sheet ice and tough conditions... and I've only been running again for a few weeks. Anyway- Raw Food. And Christmas day is full on treat day. I'm normally eating plain raw foods so this spread we just tucked into was AWESOME!
The Spread
Mock Turkey Roast with a Cranberry Sauce Glaze
Nousted Raw Stuffing - nutty and stuffing tasting.
Quinoa Tabouleh - made with sprouting Quinoa with a wicked garlic and jalapeño dressing.
Uncooked Moist Pumpkin Pie - superb with butternut squash, a lovely moist, spicy and naturally sweet pudding!
Oh. and the title picture for this post was my Raw Yule Mince Pie made with almond and cashew and flax seed pastry and a raison, apple, date,mixed spice and orange juice filling... whaaaaa!!!
Here is a the conclusion to the fantastic book - 'Days of War - Nights of Love' by crimethink - if you want a good ol' kick in the arse and willing to expose yourself to ideas that can both excite your being and call you to action, and ideas that you completely disagree with but are so very novel that you are propelled into new trains of thought... then buy book man. You can also see it for free here - thanks Haz for bringing this book to me.
Out of This World
"Where do you want to go, my heart?"
"Anywhere—anywhere, out of this world."
Afterworld by Gloria Cubana
Whatever medical science may profess, there is a difference between Life and survival. There is more to being alive than just having a heartbeat and brain activity. Being alive, really alive, is something much subtler and more magnificent. Their instruments measure blood pressure and temperature, but overlook joy, passion, love, all the things that make life really matter. To make our lives matter again, to really get the most out of them, we will have to redefine life itself. We have to dispense with their merely clinical definitions, in favor of ones which have more to do with what we actually feel.
As it stands, how much living do you have in your life? How many mornings do you wake up feeling truly free, thrilled to be alive, breathlessly anticipating the experiences of a new day? How many nights do you fall asleep feeling fulfilled, going over the events of the past day with satisfaction? Many of us feel as though everything has already been decided without us, as if living is not a creative activity but rather something that happens to us. That's not being alive, that's just surviving: being undead. We have undertakers, but their services are not usually required; we have morgues, but we spend most of our time in office cubicles and video arcades, in shopping malls, in front of televisions. Of course suburban housewives and petty executives are terrified of risk and change; they can't imagine that there is anything more valuable than physical safety. Their hearts may be beating, but they no longer believe in their dreams, let alone chase after them.
But this is how the revolution begins: a few of us start chasing our dreams, breaking our old patterns, embracing what we love (and in the process discovering what we hate), daydreaming, questioning, acting outside the boundaries of routine and regularity. Others see us doing this, see people daring to be more creative and more adventurous, more generous and more ambitious than they had imagined possible, and join us one by one. Once enough people embrace this new way of living, a point of critical mass is finally reached, and society itself begins to change. From that moment, the world will start to undergo a transformation: from the frightening, alien place that it is, into a place ripe with possibility, where our lives are in our own hands and any dream can come true.
So do what you want with your life, whatever it is! But to be sure you do get what you want, think carefully about what it really is, first, and how to go about getting it. Analyze the world around you, so you'll know which people and forces are working against your desires, and which ones are on your side... and how you can work together with us. We're out here, living life to the fullest, waiting for you—hopping trains across the United States, organizing demonstrations in the streets of London, writing beautiful letters at sunrise in Bangkok. We just finished making love in the corporate washroom a minute before you walked in on your half hour lunchbreak.
And Life is waiting for you with us, on the peaks of unclimbed mountains, in the smoke of campfires and burning buildings, in the arms of lovers who will turn your world upside down. Come join us!
